Alexa Chung: “I look back and think, ‘Did you really need an 18-year-old girl to strip in your front room?’”

It’s no secret that we love Alexa Chung, and we’re pretty sure that she’d say she’s pretty chuffed with the way her life panned out too. After all, she’s a successful TV presenter, fashion glossy and ad campaign star, and general fashion ‘it’ girl with her own book coming out very soon. However, Alexa opened up to The Times about a time in her life that wasn’t quite as sweet – i.e. her teenage modelling days!

“I actually kept modelling very separate,” she said. “I never really asked my mum or my dad’s advice during that time and it actually felt like I didn’t want to tell them too much about the reality of what was going on – when I was taking the train to London and being asked to do certain things.

“I already knew it was wrong. So, you know, if there was a casting where some creepy man there had gone on to his flat in Ilford, and, you know, ‘Take your clothes off…’ and if I’d have done it, I won’t tell my mum because I know that’s wrong.

“In hindsight, I look back and think, ‘Did you really need an 18-year-old girl to strip in your front room?’ I get flashbacks now. Loads of flashbacks. I’ll be reminded of something because I’ve sort of blocked it out and I don’t really think of those days.